1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of security protocols. Specifically, the present invention relates to the field of encryption/decryption protocols used for enabling test devices to run test applications.
2. Related Art
As the components required to build a computer system have reduced in size, new categories of computer systems have emerged. One of the new categories of computer systems is the “palmtop” computer system. A palmtop computer system is a computer that is small enough to be held in the hand of a user and can therefore be “palm-sized.” Most palmtop computer systems are used to implement various personal information management (PIM) applications such as an address book, a daily organizer, scheduling calendar, and electronic notepads, to name a few. Palmtop computers also provide wireless communication services, such as, voice communication, Internet access, e-mail, text messaging, etc. Palmtop computers have been known as Personal Digital Assistants (hereinafter referred to as “PDAs”).
Integration of the palmtop computer system into a wireless communication network necessitates the use of powerful testing applications on test devices. These testing applications are implemented for purposes of testing various other applications, products, and the interoperability of the product device or application within a communication network. Test applications and devices have also been known as “backdoor” applications and backdoor devices since they can bypass normal security measures, such as, device locking passwords.
Tight control of these backdoor applications are necessary since they allow the manipulation of settings on a device. In the wrong hands, a backdoor application could reconfigure any device in order to gain complete access to radio or wireless communication networks. Outside of test environments, this access could, at the very worst, deleteriously disable a communication network because of the inability of the network to handle this erroneous traffic. Furthermore, backdoor applications introduce the capability of illegal network traffic, which results in lost earnings and costs to try to mitigate the illegal traffic.
Unfortunately, previous mechanisms used to control access to the backdoor application have proved unsuccessful. Physical restriction or tight control of the backdoor application proved difficult to manage; especially, since testing environments sometimes necessitate wide distribution of the backdoor application. For example, third parties outside of a controlling company may need access to the backdoor application. Once the backdoor application was put in the hands of a person that was not heavily controlled, either third parties or in-house employees, the backdoor application could easily be distributed to uncontrolled sources. Because the backdoor application was software based, the backdoor application then could easily be copied and widely distributed.
Various other unsuccessful means of controlling backdoor applications included passwords and time control mechanisms. The password mechanism only allowed users who knew the password access to the backdoor application. Unfortunately, the password still had to be distributed in order to use the backdoor application and was subject to the same distribution and control problems as when restricting physical access of the backdoor application. Essentially, the wider the distribution of the password, the more likely the chance the password would be leaked to uncontrolled sources. Again, the backdoor application, along with the password, then could easily be copied and widely distributed.
Further, a time control mechanism could be implemented independent of, or in conjunction with a password. The time control mechanism essentially sets a window of time that a backdoor application could be used. Unfortunately, the window of time was in relation to the time on a device. As such, when a window of time expired, a simple cure to allow a user to continue to use the backdoor application would be to back date the device to fit within the window. As a result, the strict control of the backdoor application via a time control mechanism also failed, and the backdoor application still could easily be copied, widely distributed, and used for deleterious purposes.
Thus, the various security means for controlling backdoor applications have previously failed to mitigate the damage due to the illegal distribution and use of these backdoor applications. Passwords, time control mechanisms, and strict restrictive control of the backdoor application have proven unsuccessful in curbing the copying and wide distribution of the backdoor application to uncontrolled third parties. This wide distribution has led to illegal use of radio and wireless traffic and has resulted in deleterious damage to the wireless communication network.